Centrifugal projector



July 20,1954 D, ROSE 2,684,062

CENTRIFUGAL PROJECTOR Filed Nov. 18, 1950 2 sheets-sheet 1 1 1 :Hllllllll IN VEN TOR.

D. ROSE CENTRIFUGAL PROJECTOR Jul 20, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 18, 1950 INVENTOR.

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Patented July 20, 1954 UNITED STATES grater PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

My invention relates to centrifugal devices designed to impart motion to unit quantities of fluid or solid particles, or to rigid bodies, as they pass through the passageways of the rotating impeller of the device, in such a manner as to preserve to the utmost the velocity imparted to them by olirecting their flow through the passageways so as to prevent interference or collision of the unit quantities with each other or with the impeller and shaping the passageways so as to reduce the impact of the unit quantities or bodies on the impeller housing, as they leave the impeller, to negligible proportions.

Another object of my invention is to provide a centrifugal device designed to impart motion, as described, to unit quantities of fluid or solid particles which are of equal volume, weight and pressure, or to rigid bodies which are congruent in shape and equal in size and weight, with means for controlling the number of unit quantities of fluid or solid particles, or of rigid bodies passing through the device per unit of time and to direct their passage through the impeller in such a manner as to maintain the dynamic balance of the impeller at all times; and means for discharging and projecting the unit quantities or bodies to any point in the horizon within the range attainable with the available discharge velocity.

Other and further advantages and objects will be understood by those skilled in this art, or will be apparent or pointed out hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated preferred embodiments of the present invention:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal side elevation of the centrifugal device complete with drive, feeding mechanism and storage hopper, all mounted on a main frame which rests on a base.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic section showing the volute impeller, passageways and the housing with its discharge passageway.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the housing, and passageways through the impeller and feeding mechanism,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary transverse sectional development through the impeller, distorted to show that each of the passageways is helical in addition to being volute, the passageway in this View being shown, for greater clearness of understanding, in one-half only of the impeller, whereas, as will be understood in Fig. 2, it in reality also extends part way into the other half of the impeller, and is curved instead of straight.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through the feeding mechanism for rigid bodies, showing means provided in the mechanism for directing rigid bodies towards the impeller at such points as to insure dynamic balance in the impeller as it retates.

Fig. 5 is a section through the feeding mechanism for solid particles or fluids.

Similar numerals refer to throughout the several views.

H is the main frame on which the miscellaneous items comprising the device are mounted. i2 is a base arranged to support the frame in such a manner as to permit the frame and the entire device assembly to turn freely about an axis perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the impeller and located in a plane passing through the centerline of the discharge passageway of the device. i3 is th impeller housing and as is a housing cover. The housing and cover are bolted together and mounted on main frame H by means of pillow blocks l5 and it so that the housing with its bolted cover can be turned freely about the axis of rotation of the impeller.

ii is the impeller which is fastened in any de sired manner on shaft is of drive It which is also mounted on main frame I l.

Impeller l'i contains two or more helical volute passageways identical in size, shape and curvature with all corresponding parts of the passagesiinilar parts ways located equidistant from and equiangular around the axis of rotation for dynamic balancing, radiating towards the periphery of the impeller from a common receiving groove 29 where bodies 2i enter the impeller. Groove 2G is circular up to the beginning of the volute portions of the passageways. The impeller illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 contains two passageways, 22 and 23. In Fig. 22a, 22b, 23a, and 23?), are relative positions of passageways 22 and 23, respectively, at several points along their helical volute path between receiving groove ill and almost to the periphery of the impeller.

Impeller housing 13 is provided with a circular groove 24 which is parallel to the adjacent face of the impeller, concentric with the axis of the impeller and of the same diameter as the path of the discharge outlets of the impeller passageways, and with a discharge passageway 25 which is tangential to groove 23, said discharge passageway and its walls forming a nozzle.

25 is a feed rotor fastened on shaft 21' of drive 26 which is arranged to be variable, or variable and reversing, with relation to shaft it, so that the number of rigid bodies, or of quantities of fluid or solid particles passing through the device can be controlled. The feed rotor is similar in construction to what is commonly known as a conveyor feed screw containing two or more helical grooves 22 and is housed in pillow block 16 which is provided with two or more inlet ports 39, one for each helical groove 26, for receiving the rigid bodies, or unit quantities of fluid or solid particles.

The pitch diameter of helical grooves .29 will be the same as that of common receiving groove 2!! and they will be located equiangular around the axis of rotation of the impeller in order to feed the rigid bodies, or unit quantities of fluid or solid particles into the impeller equidistant from and equiangular around the axis of rotation as required for dynamic balancing, and to avoid collision of the units with each other.

The number of helical grooves 29 and inlet ports 30 will be the same as the number of passageways (22, 23, etc.) if the number of passageways is three or any prime odd number over three. If the number of passageways is an odd number over three but not a prime number, such as: 9, 15, etc., the number of helical grooves 29 and inlet ports 30 will be the same as the smallest prime divisor of the number of passageways. If the number of passageways is two or any even number over two, two of each, helical grooves 29 and inlet ports 30 will suffice in all cases.

In devices used for handling rigid bodies, ports 30 extend towards impeller IT in the form of grooves 3| (Figs. 3 and 5) which are similar to keyways in hubs around shafts and are designed to keep bodies 2! from turning with the feed rotor and for directing the bodies towards common receiving groove 29 as the bodies are forced to move by helical grooves 29. Grooves 3| are not required when handling fluid or solid particles.

The operation of the centrifugal device is as follows for rigid bodies The bodies to be handled can be stored in any convenient reservoir and delivered by any desirable means to inlet ports 30 of pillow block [8. In Fig. l, a reservoir is shown supported from main frame H at an elevation above that of inlet ports 35 and bodies gravitate to the inlet ports. In some cases it may be preferred to have the bodies stored at a lower level and delivered to th inlet ports by mechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic means, or even manually if the number of bodies to be handled per unit of time is small.

As feed rotor 25 (Fig. 3) is rotated by drive 28, helical grooves 29 will force bodies 2| to travel along grooves 3| towards impeller l! where they will enter receiving grooves 29 simultaneously at points located equidistant from and equiangular around the axis of rotation of the impeller.

When dischar ed by feed rotor 26 into receiving groove 25. the bodies will, due to the centrifugal force resulting from rotation of the impeller and because of the volute form of passageways 22 and 23, pass on through the groove and passageways to near the periphery of the impeller and be discharged into groove 25 of impeller housing 13 at positions 2% and 23b, as will be understood in Figs. 2 and 3.

The velocity of the bodies when they leave the impeller will be the resultant of the velocity of the impeller at the point of discharge of the bodies and the velocity of the bodies relative to the impeller passageways at that point, and will be considerably greater than the velocity of the impeller only.

The momentum of the bodies when they leave the impeller will cause them to travel alon groove 24 until they reach discharge passageway 25 which is tangential to groove 2 's and proceed through the discharge passageway out of the device in the direction of the discharge passageway which can be pointed in any direction on the horizon by turning the device about its axis and the impeller housing about the axis of rotation of the impeller. The pointing can be done manually or by any conventional mechanical or automatic means now known to the arts.

The number of bodies handled per unit of time can be controlled by varying the rotating speed of feed rotor 26, which is independent of the speed of the device.

The operation of the device when handling fluids or solid particles is similar to that for rigid bodies except for the absence of grooves 3%, the substances being conveyed to receiving groove 20 by feed rotor 26 in the usual manner of screw conveyors. The number of quantities of fluid or solid particles handled per unit of time can be controlled by varying the speed of rotation of the feed rotor, or by reversing the direction of rotation of the feed rotor in addition to varying its speed of rotation if the pressure at inlet ports 30 is sufficiently high to force more fluid or solid particles through the helical grooves of the rotor than is desired.

The following pertinent features of the device described above should be noted:

1."The rigid bodies to be handled by the device could consist of pellets of either inflammable or fire smothering substances (or capsules containing such substances), explosive or non-explosive projectiles similar to those discharged by machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, etc., except that the shell and powder charge will not be required as the velocity will be imparted to the bodies by the centrifugal and tangential forces developed as a result of rotation of the impeller and the curvature of the impeller passageways, or any other rigid bodies to be projected to a predetermined point or area from a distance.

2. The solid particles could consist of grit, sand or shot, such as used for blasting materials to be cleaned, inflammable or fire-smothering substances, or any other substances to be projected to a predetermined point or area from a distance.

3. The fluids could be either liquids or gaseous substances to be projected to a predetermined point or area from a distance for the purpose of igniting objects in that area or extinguishing fires existing in that area, or for any other purpose.

4. As the rigid bodies are congruent in shape and of equal size and weight, and the unit quantities of fluids or solid particles are of equal volume, weight and pressure, and the feed mechanism will deliver the bodies or the unit quantitles to the impeller simultaneously at points equidistant from and equiangular around the axis of rotation of the impeller, the bodies or unit quantities will not disturb the dynamic balance of the impeller as they pass through its passage ways which are also designed for dynamic baiance, nor collide with each other.

5. The impact of the bodies or unit quantities on the housing as they leave the impeller can be made negligible by making the helical angle of the impeller passageways small. The kinetic energy imparted to the material handled can, therefore, be preserved to the utmost.

6. As the impeller housing is arranged to turn about the axis of rotation of the impeller and the entire device assembly is free to turn about an axis perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the impeller and located in a plane containing the discharge passageway of the device, it will be possible to project the bodies or other substances to any point in the horizon, which is within the range of the available discharge velocity.

'7. The utilization of centrifugal and tangential forces for propelling projectiles will keep the wear on the passageways and grooves of the device down to a small fraction of the wear on barrels of guns using powder for the same purpose and the number of projectiles discharged per unit of time by the device could be increased many times over the number discharged by guns using powder due to the absence of the heat generated by the successive powder explosions.

The foregoing is intended as illustrative and not as limitative and it is to be understood that other additions, omissions, substitutions and vari ations may be made without departing from the invention which is defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A centrifugal device for projecting bodies therefrom, comprising, a rotatable impeller hav ing a pair of passageways of equal size and shape with all corresponding parts of the passageways located equidistant from and equiangular around the axis of rotation of the impeller, said impeller having a common receiving groove leading thereinto from one face thereof adjacent the axis of rotation and connecting with said passageways, each of said passageways being volute in form and extending outwardly through the body of the impeller progressively from one side face thereof at said common receiving groove near the center to a discharge outlet on the opposite side face of the impeller near the periphery, a housing within which said impeller rotates, said housing having a circular groove in its inner side face near its periphery and next to that face of the impeller having said passageway discharge outlets, means for feeding bodies into said common receiving groove, said housing having a discharge nozzle opening tangential to said circular groove, and said passageway discharge outlets leading into said circular groove, whereby rotation of the impeller will project the bodies from said nozzle at a velocity greater than the velocity of the impeller only.

2. A centrifugal device as claimed in claim 1, in which the circular groove in the housing extends as a circle of a constant diameter entirely around the inner face of the housing and into which said passageway discharge outlets tangentially merge 180 degrees apart, so that when each of the bodies leaves its respective passageway discharge outlet in the impeller it is away from contact with the impeller and can go faster.

3. A centrifugal device for projecting bodies therefrom, comprising, a housing, an impeller mounted in said housing for high speed rotation therein, means for rotating said impeller, said impeller having a plurality of passageways of equal size and shape with all corresponding parts of the passageways located equidistant from and equiangular around the axis of rotation of the impeller, each of said passageways being of a combined helical and volute form and having connection with one side face of the impeller near its axis of rotation and extending helically through the impeller and emerging at the opposite side face near the periphery thereof, a discharge nozzle in said housing in communication with said passageways, and a feed rotor for feeding bodies into said passageways at their ends near the axis of rotation of the impeller, said feed rotor having a variable speed with relation to the speed of the impeller.

4. A centrifugal device as claimed in claim 3, in which said housing, on its inner face adjacent that side face of the impeller through which the passageways emerge, has a circular groove with which the opening in the discharge nozzle is tangent and with which groove said emerging ends of the passageways communicate for delivery of said bodies thereinto, whereby said bodies when entering the discharge nozzle will be in a plane laterally removed from any plane of rotation of the impeller.

5. A centrifugal device for projecting material therefrom, comprising, a housing, an impeller rotatably mounted in the housing, means for rotating said impeller, said impeller having a plurality of passageways of combined helical and volute form extending progressively from one side face of the impeller to the other as the distance from the axis of rotation is progressively increased, said impeller having a common receiving groove in its face in which the passageways are nearer the center of rotation, and a variable speed feed rotor for feeding material to said common receiving groove and said passageways in equal units and in similar positions to maintain dynamic balance in the impeller.

6. A centrifugal device for projecting bodies therefrom, comprising a housing, an impeller rotatably mounted in said housing for high speed rotation therein, power means for rotating said impeller, said impeller having a plurality of curved passageways of equal size and shape with all corresponding parts of the passageways located equidistance from and equiangular around the axis of the impeller, said impeller having a common receiving groove leading thereinto from one face thereof adjacent the axis of rotation and connecting with said passageways, each of said passageways extending outwardly through the body of the impeller progressively from one side face thereof at said common receiving groove near the center to a discharge outlet on the opposite side face of the impeller near the periphery, said housing having a circular groove in its inner side face near its periphery into which circular groove said passageway discharge outlets smoothly and gradually merge, a variable speed feed rotor rotatably mounted in the housing concentrically with the impeller and having a plurality of helical grooves, one for each of said passageways for introducing bodies into said common receiving groove, an inlet port for each of said helical grooves, and a pillow block in said housing and having a plurality of axially extending grooves one for each of said helical grooves, whereby the feed rotor may be rotated at diiferent speeds from the speed of the impeller for controlling the number of bodies passing through the device per unit of time and maintain dynamic balance in the impeller.

7. A centrifugal device for projecting bodies therefrom, comprising, a housing, an impeller rotatably mounted in said housing, means for r0- tating said impeller, said impeller having a plurality of passageways of equal size and shape with aesaesz all corresponding parts of the passageways located equidistant from and 'equiangula-r around. the axis of rotation of the impeller, each of said passageways being of volute form and passing through the impeller from an inlet in one side face of the impeller near the axis of rotation, to an'outlet in the opposite side face of the impeller near the periphery thereof, the bodies :gradua-lly moving from one side of the impeller to the other side proportionately as their distance from the axis of rotation is progressively increased, and a variable speed feed rotor for feeding bodies into said passageways in similar positions in the respective passageways to maintain dynamic balance in the impeller.

8. A centrifugal device for projecting bodies therefrom, comprising, a housing, an impeller mounted in said housing for high speed rotation therein, means for rotating said impeller, said impeller having a plurality of pasageways of equal size and shape with all corresponding parts of the passageways located equidistant from and equiangular around the axis of rotation of the impeller, each of said passageways being of a combined helical and volute form in which the volute form gradually moves helically from one side face of the impeller to the other side face thereof as the distance from the axis of rotation is progressively increased, said housing having a circular groove in its inner face adjacent that face of the impeller in which the passageways are farthest removed from the axis of rotation, said circular groove being of a diameter slightly less than the overall diameter of the impeller and communicating with the outlet ends of the passageways, so that the bodies passing out of the passageways will glide into the circular groove and contact the side wall of the housing with a negligiblecomponent of the centrifugal force and move in this groove outside of any plane of rotation of the impeller, thus avoiding striking the inside peripheral wall of the housing with the full centrifugal force developed at the high rotational speed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 933,681 Valk Sept. '7, 1909 1,223,069 Porter Apr. 1'7, 1917 1,289,895 Pewther Dec. 31, 1918 1,316,397 Steinberger Sept. 16, 1919 1,357,028 Case Oct. 26, 1920 1,986,836 MacNeille Jan. 8, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date ;791 Great Britain June 23, 1916 526,908 Great Britain Sept. 27, 1940 

